Relocated rocks brings avalanche of complaints
Bob Fecarotta says all the decisions he's made as Schaumburg Township Highway Commissioner have been in the public's best interest.
Nevertheless, he believes he's recently made one of his least popular.
After learning at a conference that the township bears legal responsibility for any accident caused by decorative boulders in the right-of-way, he ordered all of them moved - without prior notice to homeowners who put them out.
Such rocks were found in front of 100 of the township's 700 unincorporated homes. But as Fecarotta emphasized, the property within 33 feet of the center of the road is township right-of-way, not private property.
He's sorry no notification was given before the rocks were moved, but said the township would be even more legally vulnerable by acknowledging liability before correcting it.
"I admit that it's a one-in-a-million shot, but I had to do it," Fecarotta said. "Could I have handled it differently? I don't know, but I was acting on legal advice."
About 30 homeowners strongly complained about the change of policy, and a couple were especially vociferous.
"One homeowner said there's too much government in our lives," Fecarotta said. "But if he was one of the ones hurt, he would have said the highway commissioner wasn't doing his job. And his homeowners insurance would have said it wasn't responsible."
Residents reached Monday weren't particularly angered by the change, but were perplexed by the timing of the decision and concerned that the law be applied fairly.
"I wonder why me and not the guy at the corner," said 41-year resident Beverly Roos. "What about the people with the cement mailboxes?"
Township highway workers arrived a couple weeks ago to move a boulder beside Roos' driveway to the middle of her yard.
"It was no big deal to me because it doesn't interfere with anything," she said. "Maybe 15 years ago we got a letter that they were going to do this, but it never happened."
Michelle Cannella's home down the street now has large boulders in the middle of her lawn, moved from beside the road, according to the township's wishes.
"I didn't understand the point," she said.
Charlotte Wossidlo moved to the neighborhood nearly 50 years ago and hadn't even noticed her rocks had been moved. But she said it didn't upset her.
In nearby Maine Township, Highway Commissioner Robert Provenzano said he implemented the same change upon taking office 11 years ago. His decision was based on his previous experience as a Cook County permit inspector.
What started as small pebbles eventually grew to boulders as large as the hood of a car, Provenzano said. And the threat of a potential lawsuit eventually became reality in Cook County when a jogger did fall and injure himself on a rock in the right-of-way.
The decorative rocks can also be a hazard if struck by a snowplow, which can send them airborne.
"All it takes is one lawsuit and everyone's aware of it," Provenzano said. "But you try to take care of it before that happens."
The village of Schaumburg has not actively removed decorative rocks from the right-of-way, even though their placement is a violation of village code. The village has responded more on a complaint basis or when an obstacle in the right-of-way is perceived as a potential problem, Village Manager Ken Fritz said.
But he added it's a legitimate point of view to want to minimize liability in a highly litigious society.
Someone could arguably sue the village for hitting a parkway tree - a fairly common type of crash - though the village's defense would be that the driver was in the wrong for leaving the roadway at all, Fritz said.
"There are creative attorneys out there, and I'll admit that these days people get sued for anything," he said.
Fecarotta believes he's at least saving property owners from the potential of higher taxes from a lawsuit. Such concerns are at the top of his priority list, he said, and political ambitions are at the bottom.
"If I was (voted) out of office over this, I could sleep good," he said.